JOBS are under threat at a Barclays centre at Martlesham Heath, it was revealed today.It is thought 13 people who work at the Brightwell Court site have redundancy looming over their heads as the company plans to open nine new centres across the UK.
JOBS are under threat at a Barclays centre at Martlesham Heath, it was revealed today.
It is thought 13 people who work at the Brightwell Court site have redundancy looming over their heads as the company plans to open nine new centres across the UK.
The company says the move aims to make service more efficient, and is likely to create jobs nationwide but admitted jobs are to go from Martlesham.
However it is expected to take work away from Suffolk as the nearest planned centre is in Luton.
The Barclays centre at Matlesham is the workplace for a business bank team of 40 people.
Staff deal with medium-sized businesses and there are varying jobs levels, ranging from relationship managers who deal directly with customers, assistant managers, customer service executives and people who do processing, servicing and lending work.
It is the processing side of the business which is being affected and where jobs are looking to be cut.
Staff at Martlesham found out about the plans this week but the bank says changes will not come into affect until February next year.
Irene East, spokeswoman for Barclays, said: “What we are doing is looking to provide a better, quicker and more efficient service to our customers on the processing side.
“Some jobs at Martlesham may be affected by the changes as we create new processing centres.
“We have told staff early so we can support them and so they have the choice to look for another role within the Barclays group or move to one of the other centres.
“The last resort will be redundancies and packages will depend on their situation, how long they've been with the company and so on.”
The nine new processing and servicing centres are planned for Reading, Bristol, London, Luton, Newcastle, Manchester, Northwich, Birmingham and Poole.
Ms East said: “This isn't a downsizing or job-shredding exercise. The number of jobs across the new sites is expected to increase.
“There will be no disruption to customers and our service will not change. There will be a smooth handover.”
WEBLINK
www.barclays.co.uk
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